By using ICT you can solve so many problems in the world

Master's Degree Programme in Computational Big Data Analytics

Bolarinwa Akindaini studies Computational Big Data Analytics in the School of Information Sciences (from 1 January 2017 Faculty of Natural Sciences). Originally he is from Nigeria, where he got his Bachelor’s Degree in Mathematics and Economics, and Master’s in Business Administration.

The Big Data programme at UTA includes both statistics and computational side, so it is more diverse than most degree programmes of big data. Studies include both theory and practical exercises. Because the programme is still quite new, cooperation with companies is still in the making.

“The student-teacher relationship in Finland is very free”, Bolarinwa says. “You can talk to them and you are not scared of them. They are ready to listen, if you want to talk. They know your strengths and weaknesses and encourage you to concentrate on your strengths and develop your weaknesses.“

Calling professors by their first name is also something totally different from what Bolarinwa had previously accustomed to. In Nigeria and many other places titles are very important. Being on first-name basis doesn’t mean students don’t respect teachers

“Teachers focus on the knowledge students get, not on the grades. They care about what you gain from the course, which is fantastic.”

Before he came to Finland, he worked in finance for several years. He gives some examples of how big data affects everyone’s lives: the number of tweets or Facebook comments per second is huge. “The applicability of big data is very wide!”

“University of Tampere is the best in terms of content and teaching, when it comes to big data programmes. It combines both computational side and statistics equally. The facilities are great too: we have access to all the books and materials we need.”

Bolarinwa has also taken some courses from the School of Medicine, in Bioinformatics and a UTA Summer School course unit called ICT for Development.